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Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves

She was humorous yet focused, and her authenticity allowed her to connect quickly with our students and gain their attention. She knows that the messages this world sends us about beauty create a battlefield in our minds. Erin Davis has emceed the teen track for True Woman conferences since the beginning.

Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves

One of the reasons is because she has a deep passion to reach and minister to young girls. Through the openness of her life message, they begin to see and hear about Jesus, and how a personal relationship with Him changes everything! Erin not only knows the Word of God, she lives the Word of God. Her intentionality for reaching the next generation is contagious! Erin more that meets this criteria and adds humor, tears, and heartfelt struggles that every young girl and woman faces in dealing with beauty to their identity in Christ.

She has a gifting to speak to women of all ages from teens to older women. She is refreshing in her honesty of personal struggles in her life that encourage others to be real with one another and take off the masks of perfection. She has wisdom beyond her years directly from the Lord. During my trips, I found sentences about politics, love, and sport, small colored drawings and political symbols. I thought that this art could be considered as a form of collective expression, a form of meta-art.

The aesthetic is determined not only by the people who produce the work who are, by the way, anonymous , but also by other causes even atmospheric , time, and chance. As an artist, I need to highlight this aspect and show how meaningful collective thinking and the idea of a meta-aesthetics can be. Of course, we can photograph and document various forms of artistic mural expressions, but the fact of presenting a portion of wall in its material consistency was a provocation made in order to debate the principles of individual creation, property, collective practices, and social thinking.

Ganzeer Ganzeer is the pseudonym of an Egyptian artist who has been operating mainly between graphic design and contemporary art since He refers to his practice as Concept Pop. I saw firsthand in Egypt how street-art played a direct role in some of the political changes between the years of This was simply unheard of. I also saw a wall of murals commemorating fallen protesters turn into a shrine, where people would come place flowers and look at portraits of their friends and loved ones. I saw murals that were even the cause of huge clashes. Egyptian artists really knew how to utilize the power of street-art, which is precisely why the Egyptian government introduced and heavily enforced anti-vandalism laws akin to the ones established in America.

Street-art festivals, the method through which cities offer a legal venue for artistic expression are great, but I find that they seldom result in genuine social expression rather than works that are, for the most part, decorative. There are a few exceptions to the rule, such as the works of Blu, and recently Herakut, and sometimes Os Gemeos, but for the most part, artists tend to treat these festivals as an opportunity to showcase their signature styles or to try out new techniques rather than an opportunity to say something relevant.

Uncurated and unsupervised spaces of visual expression are vital for the emergence of socially conscious artwork outside of the rather closed off subculture of street-art. For the rest of the world—which is actually the vast majority—both graffiti and street-art tend to be utilized as modes of social expression. As opposed to what is common in the U.

Graffiti (Leader's Guide)

Of course, this does not take away from the controversy associated with graffiti and street-art, but adds to it. Having said that, I still think that if unsupervised spaces were widely available—even in Western countries—some very beautiful and socially conscious artwork would emerge out of them.

It would, without a doubt, start off with haphazardly done tags and whatnot, but I imagine it would slowly evolve over time. Someone would come and write something, then someone else would come and draw something in response to that, and then perhaps someone would come and build on top of that drawing, and so on. Rather than a sacred piece of artwork, framed and hung inside a museum upon completion, this would be an ever-evolving kind of street-art.

18 WALL PAINTING HACKS AND DESIGN IDEAS YOU WILL BE GRATEFUL FOR

Very alive and always changing as per the whims and conditions of its surrounding inhabitants. Artwork that is as much alive as the cities that host them. On this basis, the Mayor took actions to promote graffiti and provide the general public with information about graffiti and the decree. Such graffiti—including street art, graffiti of young people following football clubs, writing of hip hop culture, art murals, political graffiti—has many stories to tell, including signatures or tags.

Decree 75 of regulates the legality of graffiti, regardless of its aesthetic quality, emphasizing the process that defines the permissions of the owners of the places where graffiti is made. That is, no matter how ugly or beautiful, it is critical to have the permission of the owner of the property before graffiti is created. The decree has generated some public acceptance of certain types of graffiti while others remain less popular. Other graffiti is less accepted, such as football related graffiti, political messages, and, especially, tagging.

There are several surveys indicating improving public opinion of graffiti. But in , a poll by the Bienal de Culturas found that 67 percent believed that artistic graffiti improves the city. The patterns and their difficulty, the techniques, the explosion of colors and tones in the image, for example, are all components of graffiti writing. Writing on the walls of the city generates phenomena of interpretation, not only in the field of semiotics, but also in simple enjoyment and aesthetic interpretation. The debate is, therefore, open. However, practitioners of graffiti are clear about something: This, just 3 days after a rally to protect the beloved international landmark from demolition, and mass outrage at the plan to build a condominium complex on site.

A year later, all that was left in the wake of its destruction was flattened rubble, construction scaffolds, and cranes. And, a deep socio-cultural scar on residents of the city and the international graffiti community. For over 20 years, 5Pointz was a most powerful force of positive change in New York City, particularly for its youth.

I was 15 when I first visited 5Pointz, then known as the Phun Phactory. I was a fledgling graffiti writer, only rarely mustering the courage to get up outside of my blackbook. But I was deeply infatuated with the form and determined to get better. The more I painted, the more I met other writers. My foray into graffiti was the first time I truly felt part of a community. Graffiti gave us a stake in our city and connected us to the world at the same time. The massive structures covered in hundreds of shades and layers of paint were a revelation. The fact that nobodies like us could paint next to legends was exciting and terrifying , and motivated us to paint harder.

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It was thrilling to see your own piece from the 7 train, knowing that thousands of other people were seeing it too. Yet, the medium itself and those who practice it are routinely criminalized. Graffiti is arguably the most relevant art form of our time. Yet, it is attacked and destroyed where it is most accessible and where it is most at home. At the same time, it is routinely commodifed in the service of gentrification. In New York City, its birthplace, graffiti has been under constant attack since the late s.

It sends a message to writers in general, and the young people and communities of color where graffiti originated—that their creative expression is not wanted, is of no value, and is therefore expendable. Long Island City is one of the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City due to its proximity to Manhattan.

But it is artists, like those that popularized 5Pointz, who, in part, brought the neighborhood attention and raised its value. Once they had served their purpose, they were disposed of in favor of condos for the rich. They, in turn, attract rich property developers, who, when they take over, will permit graffiti within certain parameters that serve their interests. Like Jerry Wolkoff, who has promised to maintain significant wall space in his new development—built over 5Pointz—for graffiti writers. How much space, exactly? Who will be allowed to paint? What will be the criteria? These are all questions that fall on deaf ears, as we are reminded that we are lucky to be getting any space at all.

There is no shortage of evidence that spaces like 5Pointz are invaluable safe spaces for the young people of New York City. They provide access to the arts and culture as alternatives to high-risk behaviors and delinquency. They expose our youth to the world and all the possibilities that exist within it. Yet, they are directly, or indirectly, under attack. What can we as artists, appreciators, New Yorkers, and global citizens do to fill the abysses left by the destruction of OUR venues for creative expression?

Patrick is an ecological artist, and director of SocieCity , a socially-engaged art and media lab, working internationally to inspire empathic relationships between people and the living world around us.

Beautiful Encounters

Graffiti Leader's Guide: Learning to See The Art in Ourselves [Erin Davis] on bahana-line.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Our culture is driven by a. Editorial Reviews. Review. Erin has an uncommon grasp on what goes on in our minds as girls. She knows that the messages this world sends us about beauty.

This points to something most of us reading this already know well: The solution, plainly put, is that our cities need more opportunities for young persons to contribute their creative hands and minds to their communities in ways that are socially productive. City administrators tell us this is easier in theory than in practice, yet it becomes easier in practice if we let much of that theory come from the mouths of those who are primarily affected. We asked a group of her students to use photography and written word to address issues that were impacting their lives.

The works they handed in tackled surprisingly deep issues, from drugs to discrimination to sexual orientation. How often does law enforcement take this view? Perhaps not often enough. Two year-olds see a hurt city, and they see graffiti as the color and expression, if not necessarily to show that hurt, then to provide an alternative to it. They also see, in themselves and their friends, an untapped talent; a talent with no logical outlet in their world other than on freeway overpasses and walls.

Colorful bandages applied to a hurt city. The positive examples show governments using honesty and compassion, involving disenfranchised youth in the direction of cities and neighborhoods instead of locking them behind bars ; they show neighborhoods not just coming alive with color, but disenfranchised youth coming alive to believe in themselves, to discover and use their unique skills and passions to make their corner of the world better, regardless of whether they go on to be professional artists, business leaders, local politicians, or homeless recyclable collectors.

The positive examples bring notions of community and economy closer together, instead of continuing a dangerous global trend of pushing the two farther apart. In doing so, they create viable opportunities for individuals to build and join a community-focused economy. At Art is Power, Patrice focuses his energies full-time on working with and documenting visionary Arts initiatives from around the globe. Previously, he worked as a public school teacher in San Jose, California. What can it be: However, this feeling was instantly disrupted by the sight of a van that was completely covered with spray painted scrawls.

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Young women today face many self-image and identity issues. Fueled by media in magazines, movies, and television, they are presented with a standard of physical beauty few obtain. Learning to see the Art in Ourselves" Erin Davis looks to the Bible to see what God says about our identity and what is beautiful. Ideal for women of all ages, "Graffiti" will open your eyes to the source of true and lasting beauty.